$45M city contract awarded to interim solid waste hauler
Become a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the Black community
Clinton students clean up the beach
Otis gets 60-day sentence for molestation
Council halves the number of some committee meetings
Hub City gets four ‘siblings’ with sister cities program
A pat on the back for helping hands
New Web site offers better access to student records
Teacher turns math into song and dance
Salvation Army Compton Corps installs 2010 board
Apprentice Drive aims to put trades people back to work
Community rallies to support wounded worker
Beyonce makes history with 6 Grammys
Awareness
day highlights AIDS epidemic among Blacks
Free
HIV/AIDS testing offered throughout Hub City area
By
Cheryl Scott
Bulletin
Staff Writer
Blacks
are only 13 percent of the population nationwide, but they account
for more than 49 percent of AIDS cases, which is now the leading
cause of death for Black women between the ages of 25 and 34. It is
the second-leading
cause of death for Black men from 35 to 44.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a working group
of national organizations direct, plan, and organize National Black HIV/AIDS
Awareness Day every Feb. 7 in an effort to encourage sexually active men
and women to get tested for the disease.
“The HIV/AIDS epidemic in African-American communities is a continuing
public health crisis for the United States,” said Nwadiogbu Collins,
spokesman for the Oasis III Clinic, 1748 E. 118th St. in Los Angeles. “The
national awareness day program attacks the problem across the country
and does a great job raising awareness about the problem.
“On a local level, Oasis III has joined in the effort with a public
service announcement that will run the entire month of February,” he
continued. “We are not holding a special testing event, but we offer
free testing every day, including the newer rapid HIV test that gives
results in 20 minutes.”
The most recent CDC statistics are staggering.
At the end of 2006 there were an estimated 1.1 million people living
with HIV infection, of which almost half (46 percent) were African American.
While Blacks represent approximately 13 percent of the U.S. population,
they continue to account for a higher proportion of cases at all stages
of the disease — from infection with HIV to death with AIDS — compared
to members of other races and ethnicities.
In 2007 Blacks accounted for 49 percent of the estimated 35,962 AIDS
cases diagnosed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The rates
of AIDS diagnoses decreased among Blacks that year, but were still higher
than the rates of any other race or ethnicity. The rate of AIDS diagnoses
for Black adults and adolescents were 10 times the rate for whites and
nearly three times the rate for Hispanics. The rate of AIDS diagnoses for
Black women was 22 times the rate for white women, and for Black men, almost
eight times the rate for white men.
For Black women living with HIV/AIDS, the most common methods of
transmission were high-risk heterosexual contact and injection drug use.
For Black men, the most common methods of HIV transmission were sexual
contact with other men, injection drug use and high-risk heterosexual contact.
By the end of 2007, 40 percent of new AIDS cases were among Blacks.
“Like other communities, African Americans face a number of risk
factors that contribute to the high rates of HIV infection,” said
UCLA professor Dr. Chandra L. Ford in a paper published in 2008. “Sexual
risk factors include high-risk sexual contact such as unprotected sex with
multiple
partners or unprotected sex with persons known to have or be at a
high risk for HIV infection. People may be unaware of their partner’s
sexual risk factors or have incorrectly assessed these risks.”
Injection drug use may add to the higher rates of infection for African
Americans, according to the CDC Web site. In addition to being at
risk from sharing unclean needles, casual and chronic illegal substance
users
may be more likely to engage in unprotected sex under the influence
of illegal drugs or alcohol.
The county said this year it will not be sponsoring any special events
as it did last year, with a couple of human billboards and a special church
service marking the 2009 observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness
Day. This year, the observance happens to fall on Superbowl Sunday.
“We are not doing anything out of the ordinary on Feb. 7,” said
True Pawluk, director of communications for the county of Los Angeles Department
of Public Health Office of AIDS Programs and Policy. “Our effort
is day-in, day-out availability of free testing, not only for AIDS
and the HIV virus, but for other sexually transmitted diseases as well.
“The importance of testing cannot be overstated. By reducing high-risk
sexual activity we can also reduce positive diagnoses. For that reason,
we support all organizations that are offering free testing on Feb.
7. We encourage these organizations to get in touch with us at 213-351-8001.
We are especially looking for organizations serving young Latino
men and
women of color.”
Free testing is available at the following sites and clinics here
in Compton and nearby:
• Martin Luther King Jr. Multiservice Ambulatory Care Center
12021 S. Wilmington Ave.
Los Angeles
310-668-4231
• Oasis III Clinic
Primary HIV
medical care.
3209 N. Alameda St.,
Suite K
Compton
310-761-8444
• Oasis Clinic HIV
Counseling Testing
and Referral
1748 E. 118 St., Bldg. M
Los Angeles
323-563-5812
• South Bay Family Healthcare Center
742 W. Gardena Blvd.
Gardena
310-327-1357
• South Bay Family HL.A. County Department
of Health Services
1522 E. 102nd St.
Los Angeles
323-563-4112.
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